As much of an Indians fanatic as I am, I wasn’t about to watch Scott Kazmir pitch at 3 a.m. on a tape delayed broadcast of Monday’s Cactus League game between the Angels and Indians. On a related note, I’m eternally grateful to the guy who invented DVR. There has been a lot of buzz about the southpaw who is trying to rectify his career after a severe velocity drop, among other things, sent him to the Atlantic League’s Sugar Land Skeeters in 2012.

After seeing Kazmir firsthand, I believe there’s cause for optimism with Kazmir. I’m not a scout, so my opinion should probably be taken with a grain of salt, but, guess what? Most people who write baseball articles are not scouts either. They’re people like me who watch a lot of baseball.

First, some background on Kazmir, who, once upon a time, was a very good pitcher in the Major Leagues. From 2005-2008, Kazmir won 45 games, had a 3.51 ERA and struck out 9.68 batters per nine innings. From 2009-2011, as Kazmir’s velocity dropped into the mid-80s, the high walk rate he used to be able to work around because of swing-and-miss stuff started to catch up with him. He pitched only 299 innings and posted a 5.41 ERA.

Rather than sulk and fall into oblivion, Kazmir focused on regaining lost velocity and cleaning up his delivery. In and of itself, that makes Kazmir easy to root for. Baseball-Reference lists Kazmir’s career earnings at $30.897M, so nobody would have faulted him for claiming arm trouble and calling it quits.

Read more...

As we close out the bottom half of our countdown, there are some really intriguing prospects who are starting to emerge here. Today, we're going to look at not just one, but two giant lefthanded pitchers who are trying to rise through the organization after signing as international free agents. We're going to talk about a pitcher-turned-outfielder with (as you'd expect) a cannon for an arm in RF. We'll look at the only player in the C.C. Sabathia trade who has yet to play in the major leagues. Finally, we'll look at a player who's power exploded in 2012 in a most unexpected way, putting him on the threshold of a call-up to the major league roster.

Read more...

Exactly 20 days. That's how many more days that I can use the calendar hanging above my desk.

Of course I'm talking about the calendar I received last year at an Indians game. Once March ends, the calendar has no use. Which means one important thing.

I need to get a new calendar.

How annoying is that? Especially since I don't particularly care for spending money on a new one, because knowing me, I'll want something cool. Why can't I just automatically have a new Indians one ready for me to use?

Why? Why? Why?

Just let me have nice things... Or a new calendar ready and waiting to go.

[KAZ THE MAN]

Scott Kazmir really wants a rotation spot.

The former Angel went against his former team on Monday and did one heck of a job in establishing a claim to be in the Indians rotation come April.

Read more...

Night and day; that’s how Scott Kazmir describes where he’s at as a pitcher, now versus what he was in his time with the Angels.  For Kazmir, this wasn’t about vengeance of any sort, just another start for a one-time phenom trying to crack a starting rotation.  He caught up with some old friends before Monday’s game in Goodyear, but when game time came, it was all about shutting down the Angels.

And, shutting down the Angels is exactly what he did in his first 4-inning start of the spring.  He threw four scoreless innings against his former team on Monday, which is nothing new, since he has yet to allow a run to cross the plate on his watch through 8 innings of work thus far, over the course of 3 outings.  Refusing to be the “crafty left-hander”, Kazmir is still striking guys out; all four Angel Ks were of the swing-and-miss variety.

Read more...